A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
When The Tyrannical Surveillance State Is Fine And Normal, Actually
Texts on far-right Infowars host Alex Jones’ phone reveal that the conspiracy theorist has been secretly surveilling his ex-wife, Kelly Jones, and current wife, Erika Wulff Jones, in recent years through private spies and informers, Rolling Stone reports.
- Jones has reportedly been snooping into Kelly Jones’ location and activities for years during their custody battle through what one source called a “spy ring.”
- Jones also reportedly spied on Wulff Jones by having a member of his security team follow her around. The Infowars host would repeatedly text the security guy asking for information on his wife, per Rolling Stone.
DOJ Sends 40 Subpoenas, Seizes Several Phones
The Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigators have been busy this past week, sending more than three dozen subpoenas to people in Trump’s orbit, according to the New York Times. CNN similarly reports that the Justice Department issued more than 30 subpoenas to Trumpland in recent days.
- Ex-Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien and ex-Trump campaign chief financial officer Sean Dollman were among those who got subpoenaed, according to CNN.
- Ex-White House social media director Dan Scavino reportedly got one too. He still works as one of Trump’s advisers.
- Federal agents also reportedly seized phones from Trump campaign advisers Boris Epshteyn and Mike Roman, who were both involved in the fake elector scheme.
- Ex-White House senior adviser Stephen Miller was subpoenaed last week too, as the Times and CNN previously reported.
Trump Campaign Aide Who Tried To Deliver Fake Elector List To Pence Is ID’d
Remember that Mike Roman guy I mentioned in that item up there just now? He was the one who brought the bogus elector certificates from Michigan and Wisconsin to Congress, where a friendly lawmaker’s office was supposed to have them delivered to then-Vice President Mike Pence, according to Politico.
- Roman reportedly delivered them to Rep. Mike Kelly’s (R-PA) chief of staff at the time, Matt Stroia.
- Pence ultimately never received the certificates.
DOJ Open To Trump’s Pick For Special Master
The Justice Department stated in a court filing on Monday that its investigators would accept one of Trump’s proposed candidates to independently sift through the documents the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago.
- The candidate is a former chief federal judge in New York named Raymond J. Dearie. He was appointed by Ronald Reagan.
- The next step: The federal judge who shockingly approved Trump’s request for a special master in the first place, Judge Aileen Cannon, will decide whether or not to assign the review to Dearie.
Plaintiff In Dumb Election Fraud Suit Unaware She Was Plaintiff
John Pierce (whom you might remember as the defense lawyer for a bunch of Jan. 6 defendants and who ghosted his clients for two weeks) is suing Rep. Dan Webster (R-FL) on behalf of far-right clown Laura Loomer’s supporters who want a do-over primary after their fave lost decisively to Webster in the Aug. 23 GOP primary.
But one of those supporters listed as a plaintiff in the suit told the Daily Beast that she had no clue she was a plaintiff until she read about it in a local news report and “just about fainted.”
- Theresa Rinaldi of Orange County, Florida said she doesn’t believe there was fraud in the primary and wants nothing to do with Pierce’s gambit. “I want my name off of that, because I did not witness any voter fraud,” she said.
- Not all the plaintiffs were looped into the suit without their knowledge, though: Yesterday I got in contact with one of them, Anne Marcotte, who told me that she was invited to join the lawsuit by a so-called election integrity group.
More Than Half Of Americans Will Have Election Denier On Ballot
This November, a staggering 60 percent of American voters will have a candidate (for House, Senate, governor, secretary of state and/or attorney general) who refuses to accept the 2020 election outcome on their ballots, according to this alarming new analysis by FiveThirtyEight.
- 118 election deniers running for the House have at least a 95 chance of winning, per the analysis.
- Only 30 percent of GOP nominees actually accept the 2020 election in some form (they either “fully accepted” it or “accepted with reservations”).
- And only 74 Republican candidates out of the total 540 fully accept the election results.
Must Read
“One of Long COVID’s Worst Symptoms Is Also Its Most Misunderstood” – The Atlantic
SCOTUS Judges Expected To Get Update On Leak Probe, Kagan Says
Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said yesterday that she expects that she and her fellow justices will finally receive an update on the investigation into the unprecedented Roe opinion leak.
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